Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

ST. AUGUSTINE’S CRITIQUE OF THE ADIAPHORA 171
everything we do will be equally virtuous; if reason is contrary
to nature, then all of one’s actions will be equally vicious.
Virtue... is a harmonious disposition, choice-worthy for its
own sake and not from hope or fear or any external motive.
Moreover, it is in virtue that happiness consists; for virtue is the
state of mind which tends to make the whole of life harmonious.
When a rational being is perverted, this is due to the deceptiveness
of external pursuits or sometimes to the influence of associates.
12
In objective moral terms, however, the Stoics view all virtues
as equally good, and all vices as equally bad.
It is a tenet of theirs that between virtue and vice there is
nothing intermediate...and the same rule applies to all the other
virtues. 13
Augustine and the Stoics: A Preliminary Assessment
Augustine’s critique of the Stoic notion of the adiaphora
must be approached within the framework of his overall response
to Stoic ethics, and in broader terms, to Stoic thought in general.
At the outset, it should be noted that Augustine’s attitude
toward Stoicism exhibits something of an ambiguity. On the one
hand, he approached this particular school in a polemical context,
so as to refute the errors inherent in its teaching. On the
other hand, however, Augustine frequently appropriated Stoic
insights for his own purposes as a Christian theologian and philosopher.
In this way, Augustine’s moral theory represents
something of a Christianized brand of Stoicism (along with
ideas derived from the Neoplatonic tradition), particularly in his
earliest writings. But even in these instances, Augustine exhibits
a high degree of selectivity, choosing what is useful in the arti-
12 DIOGENES LAERTIUS, Lives of Eminent Philosophers VII,89.
13
Ibid., VII,127.